To take the juice from the sugarcane is original. To make sugar from the juice is to re-make. In that context, Srinivasan extracted the juice and P Vasu made sugar out of it.

Pasupathy is a poor barber who doesn't even have the means to repair his already patched up chair. He may not be able to afford his daughter's school fees, but he would never take the wrong path.

On one hand we have Pasupathy plodding along his punctured life. On the other, we have his schoolmate and childhood friend Rajini, who is superstar Ashok Kumar. One day, Ashok Kumar lands up in Pasupathy's village for his film shooting.

All Pasupathy is interested in is for his fortunes to change so he can afford a swiveling chair for his saloon. Would people ever accept without laughing that this modest man has a friend of the stature of Rajinikanth? So the whole town makes fun of Pasupathy. He's caught in a situation where he's unable to meet his old friend and cringes from the fun poked at him by the people. How he comes into his own, forms the rest of the story.

Rajini does a new kind of role, where he is an actor in the film. It's a plus point that he shows all the anger, affection, humour that one sees in real life, without putting on a mask.

When he talks movingly about his old friend at the school function, it must have been a new experience for Rajini. Like MGR, he usually turns his face away from the camera when he does such emotional scenes, but strangely, there are close up shots of him with tear filled eyes when he speaks at the school function.

When Sundarajan visits Rajini on the sets and fires some high handed questions at him, the answers Rajini gives seem like they are directed at the media. To the question about Kamal, he responds, "Kamal has achieved so much in his acting, so what's wrong if he shows off a bit?" By this, Rajini shows that he's not averse to appreciating the work and talent of his contemporaries.

Pasupathy has proven with his roles that he's not a villain, comedian or hero. In 'Kuselan' he reiterates this with his character; he's just an ordinary, poor and modest barber. When the children get morose with him, Pasupathy does not wallow in self pity or pain but just comments, "They are children… Leave them be." This is indeed to be appreciated.

When Rajini talks about his friendship on the school days, Pasupathy is standing behind a pillar and tears roll down his cheeks as he hears his friend mention every single detail. Pasupathy is moved by Rajini's talk and so are we to such an extent that our throats ache with unshed tears.

Meena is the beloved wife of Pasupathy. She looks as young as she did in 'Yejaman.' Her acting prowess remains undiminished. Nayantara does the role of an actress. Her main use in the film is for the songs, glamour and a few scenes to add to the length of the film.

As comedy, Vadivelu's men kidnap all the hapless men in town, and he forces his barber skills on them. Logic ends up the victim. One can laugh at his expressions of joy after he meets Rajini. After trying to meet Rajini and getting thrown out, Livingstone and his cronies bluff to the people that they have got his call sheet. This comedy goes down well with the audience.

According to Srinivasan's original 'Kadha Parayumpol,' "The hero of the film is Pasupathy. My part is 25% and Vadivelu's is 25%" is what Rajini has said in his interviews. This would have been right too, if not for the various incorporated elements purely from a business angle that has taken the sweetness of the story to an excess.

For instance, popular stars have been used for even minor roles. Use of grand sets and costly graphics are superfluous in certain places and all these rob the story of its life.

Is so much activity necessary around the place where Rajini is staying? One can clearly distinguish that Pasupathy's house, the well Meena sits on, the market place and buildings on either side are all cardboard constructions.

Songs are by G V Prakash Kumar. Attention has been paid to background music. The flute has been appropriately used to show pathos. Because of the constraints imposed by the giant sets and fast moving graphics, cinematographer Arvind Krishna had to contend with the artificially made up faces.

Here and there, we can see that P Vasu has slipped in the screenplay. Rajini is supposed to shoot for one film. But it looks like 2 or 3 different films are being shot. When in shooting are such long shots taken at a stretch? Still the Chandramukhi laka laka... some loud scenes…are irritants. Such drawbacks are made up for in the last 15 minutes of the film, and that is Vasu's strength.